Shelf assemblies



Dec. 15, 1959 H, G, F. BERGKvls-r 2,917,187

SHELF ASSEMBLIES Filed DGO. 25, 1957 (er r /AKAN G. F BERG/WIST INVENTOR BY Afro/wey;

United States Patent C) SHELF ASSEMBLIES Hlran Georg Fritof Bergkvist, Gnosjo, Sweden Application December 23, 1957, Serial No. 704,587 Claims priority, application Sweden December 29, 1956 This invention relates to a shelf assembly having one or more shelves extending between and mounted on substantially vertical standards.

According to the invention one or more standardsV at each end of the shelf or shelves are designed with a number of wedge-shaped elements distributed along the standard with their small ends facing upwards and their large ends facing downwards, each shelf having an eye with an aperture at the periphery thereof, said aperture permitting passing the eye onto the standard transversely thereof at or adjacent the small end of a wedge-shaped eiement and displacement of the small end of the wedgeshaped element but not the large end thereof through said eye.

F or a better elucidation the invention will be described more in det-ail in the following, reference being had to an embodiment of the invention shown by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the shelf assembly.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front view thereof.

3 is a detail view in side elevation on a larger scale and partly in section.

4 is a section on line lV--IV in Fig. 3.

The illustrated shelf assembly comprises two identical end members each of which consists of a frame made from tubular material or, as in the illustrated embodiment, from bar stock. The frame 10 is meant to be secured by means of screws to a wall or the like. Secured in each frame 10 is a pair of parallel standards which are substantially vertical in the position of use of the frame. Said standards are in the form of tubes 11 secured to the frame 10 by means of screws 12 extending freely through holes in the frame bar and screwed into the interually threaded ends of the tubes 11. Frustoconical elements 13 of plastic material, such as polyethylene or Bakelite, or wood or metal are passed onto each tube 11, said elements having their small ends facing alternately in one and the other direction. Said elements may be composed in pairs to form a double cone or may be made in a single piece as such a double cone, and it is also possible to make all elements integral, the tube 11, too, being designed integrally with the element thus formed, which may, however, also be massive except for a hole at each end to accommodate the screws 12.

Extending between the end members are shelves 15 which at each end are provided with two open eyes 16, the mutual center distance of which is substantially as large as the center distance between the two tubes 11. Each eye 16 is a piece of sheet metal fixed to the underside of the shelf, possibly countersunk therein, and comprises a narrower portion 17 forming the insertion opening of the eye, and a broader circular portion 18 located inside said iirst-mentioned portion 17. The portion 17 is of such a width that a conical element 13 can be introduced into the eye at or immediately adjacent the small end of the element 13. The portion 18 certainly is broader than the portion 17 but it is nevertheless not sufficiently wide to permit the large end of the element 13 to pass therethrough. lf an eye 16 is passed onto the small end of a conical element, the small end of which is facing upwards, and is then moved downwards in the axial direction of the element towards the large end thereof, the eye having been moved a certain distance is positioned at a portion of the conical element which is too thick to be able to move out of the eye through the portion 17 thereof, and consequently the eye cannot be removed from the element transversely of the axial direction of the element. After a further displacement of the eye downwards in the axial direction of the element the latter will progressively prevent this displacement, too, so that the eye is wedged to the element. The shelf l5 can thus be fixed in any desired position of height on the two end members by being passed with its eyes onto two conical elements suitable for the desired height position and having their small ends facing upwards, whereafter said shelf is pushed downwards on said elements. The mounting of the shelf is most readily effected if one of the two eyes 16 located at one and the same end of a shelf has its insertion'opening facing the other eye which latter has its insertion opening facing away from the rst-mentioned eye.

The embodiment illustrated can be modified in several respects and it may be mentioned by way of example that the elements i3 need not necessarily be conical but may have any other wedge shape. A design in which the wedge-shaped elements are passed onto resilient means, is also conceivable. Y

What l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A shelf assembly comprising at least one shelf, at least one standard at each end of said shelf, surfaces on said standard forming a plurality of substantially rigid wedges distributed along the standard with their small ends facing upwards and their large ends facing downwards, and at least one eye at each of said shelf having an aperture opening in the periphery of said eye of a size at least as great as the size of the small ends of said wedges and said eye is smaller than the larger ends of said wedges, whereby any one of said wedges may be introduced into said aperture at the small end of the wedge only and said eye may be pressed into a rm wedging engagement with the wedge towards the large end thereof.

2. A shelf assembly as claimed in claim l, in which said aperture comprises a narrower portion at the periphery of said eye forming the mouth of said aperture, anda wider portion located inwardly of said narrower portion.

3. A shelf assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which said surfaces are formed by a plurality of frusto-conical elements distributed along said standard.

*4. A shelf assembly as claimed in claim 3, in which said frusto-conical elements are spaced by frusto-conical elements having their small ends facing downwards and their large ends facing upwards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,613,382 Clarke Jan. 4, 1927 2,498,842 Kuenne Feb. 28, 1950 2,556,105 Rhett lune 5, 1951 2,649,972 Weil Aug. 25, 1953 2,825,101 Rubenstein Mar. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 855,715 France Feb. 19, 1940 

